The Last Free-For-All Democratic Clusterfests

All those who care about finding the strongest Democratic nominee to defeat a grossly unfit president can breathe a sigh of relief that the two-night free-for-all clusterfests of candidates are finally over.

Many of us who were eager to start winnowing down nearly two dozen candidates—strong alternatives as well as remote possibilities with overactive imaginations—were unpleasantly surprised at how quickly the opening debates deteriorated into unattractive squabbling. It was probably that dramatic moment in the first June debates when California Sen. Kamala Harris personally challenged former Vice President Joe Biden on his opposition to busing for school integration that set the confrontational tone for the second round of debates in July.

With such a large field, everyone else was desperate to find a similar way to emerge from the crowd and gain days alone in the spotlight in just a few allotted minutes. Feeding into that was the tendency of media moderators to promote televised conflict like kids eager to hold the coats while others fight on the playground.

Don’t Take the Bait

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg rose above that in a positive way by pointedly refusing to take the bait and attack other Democrats. Warren was openly invited to distance herself from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and instead simply continued explaining how her own progressive policies would level the economic playing field for working Americans.

Buttigieg, the youngest candidate at 37 who looks even younger, was asked a leading question that basically came down to whether Biden and Sanders (at 76 and 77) were too old to be running. “I don’t care how old you are,” Buttigieg responded, “I care about your vision.” Then he pivoted, as skilled debaters should, to turn the question against his party’s real opponents: Republican enablers of Donald Trump’s “naked racism.”

Speaking directly to the camera, Buttigieg told congressional Republicans to “consider the fact that, when the sun sets on your career and they are writing your story of all the good and bad things you did in your life, the thing you will be remembered for is whether in this moment, with this president, you found the courage to stand up to him or continue to put party over country.”

Too many of the other debaters got so lost trying to aggressively outscore each other they never got around to mentioning the horrific, historic moment of deadly racial violence we are living through as our president intentionally fans the flames with his vicious, dehumanizing rhetoric.

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Best Health Care Plan?

One of the uglier, most confusing arguments for viewers was the extended debate over which candidate has the best health care plan. Here’s the simple answer: All Democratic candidates do. Medicare-for-all proposed by Sanders, Warren and other progressives, and Biden’s more moderate expansion of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) to include a public option, all lead to the same place: the Democratic Party’s holy grail of universal national health coverage for all Americans. But Maryland Congressman John Delaney and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock boosted Republican opponents by accusing progressive supporters of Medicare-for-all of plotting to destroy private health insurance for millions of Americans who want it.

Let’s be clear. No Democrats are proposing to destroy health care for anyone; they want to continue expanding affordable, subsidized health care until everyone is covered. Republicans are the ones who have repeatedly voted to destroy affordable health care for 20 million Americans without any replacement. They’re currently pursuing a federal lawsuit to destroy all ACA benefits, including coverage of pre-existing conditions and government subsidies reducing costs.

Delaney and Bullock are unlikely to gain enough popular support in four legitimate polls, or financial support from enough donors, to qualify for September’s ABC-TV Democratic debate at Texas Southern University, a historic black university in Houston. So far, only eight candidates have qualified: Biden, Warren, Harris, Sanders, Buttigieg, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. The Democratic National Committee went out of its way to give every candidate some attention.

Clear Away the Clutter

But now, it’s time to clear away the clutter of so many candidates with less than a blip of support and give the most serious possibilities more opportunity to present their most compelling national messages. The sooner the leading candidates stop splitting hairs over minor differences and make it clear they’re all heading in the same positive direction for our country, the better.

Along the way, Democratic candidates will have to keep answering tough questions about whether they’re moving too far to the left by proposing humane policies on immigration, health care as a right, removing assault rifles from our city streets and shifting more taxes from working Americans to the wealthy instead of the other way around. Somehow, Republicans never seem to get asked whether they’re moving too far to the right by becoming the party of racial hatred and human cruelty.

Joel McNally is a national-award-winning newspaper columnist and a longtime political commentator on Milwaukee radio and television. Since 1997, Joel has written a column for the Shepherd Express where he also was editor for two years.

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Comments (4)

After the first night, Iowans though Liz Warren had "the fight"

CNN's post debate discussion also gave Liz 30 minutes of air time.

Liz went on to talk about her tax plan, basically a "property tax" on wealthy people's bank accounts.

clipped from Wikipedia:----------------------Warren supports an "Ultra-Millionaire Tax" on the 75,000 richest families in the U.S. (those with net worth greater that $50 million) that she says would result in $250 billion a year in federal revenue. She proposes using that extra funding to provide universal childcare and a pre-K program that mirrors the universal high school movement of the early 20th century, relief of student loan debt, and down payments on a Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Additionally, she says a historic investment in housing would result in rents decreasing by 10% nationwide and 1.5 million new jobs.

Former top economic adviser to Obama and both Clintons, Gene Sperling has said "This type of wealth tax is essential." David Leonhardt wrote that "Warren is trying to treat not just the symptoms but the underlying disease."--------------------

She may be correct about the constitutionality of a federal property tax on wealthy bank holdings, her rate was 2% per year on every dollar above a "standard exemption" of $50 million. I know that in short order, all balances will leave the US, rendering that tax = 0.

But, I would like to see a tax reform that makes it so people who earn money off of capital gains or dividends at least pays a tax rate higher than people who have to put in time on the job.

My twist would be to have the usual "standard deduction" on traditional wage income like we already have, but have a separate standard deduction for this capital gains and dividend money. Say, the first $100,000 of that investment income, and then the standard income rates apply on all money in excess of that. This would help most all of our retirees, their required minimum distributions largely falling under that line.

SE Wisc. Citizen301 days ago

Democrats need to work on restoring economic fairness

Only 40% of the people support Trump in all his anti-immigration, pro-white nationalist banter. That means 60% of America knowing that there are more serious problems in the way life has become in America, especially the growing gap between the top-most wealth owners and the 3/4 of the people that make less than 6-figures. That is top 1% vs bottom 75%, it's a little hard to call the 24% of people in the middle.

Sure, you find racists in that top 1%, but you find non-racists there too. Being at the top does not automatically make you Republican, Conservative, white, or racist. Life is divided funny that way, rarely do people fit neatly into their externally assigned stereotype. But you will find that the largest business owners do not want to promote racism, they know that money is green no matter what color hands the customer has, or even what color their worker is. Wise business owners do not want to cut out a portion of their paying customers, nor do they want to ignore a source of good work talent. Even though Trump once said it, it is true that "there are very fine people on both sides"... but I am not talking about white supremacist protests here. Even a "silent racist" knows what is really meant by "both sides", it is more along race lines than anything.

You probably find more racists as a percentage in that bottom 75%, just like there are lots of Republicans and Conservatives in this lower 75%, America even has plenty of them in "the bottom 47% who does not pay taxes." I think the poor Conservative is more likely to be racist than the more well off Conservative, they need someone to blame for their failure to be on top.

The same goes with so-called tax reform. Yes, most every upper person who is confident that they will never need assistance may find it upsetting to think they are paying taxes to support someone who will need assistance, but many of these same people also know that their success depends on America's military keeping international trade routes open, as well as knowing that assistance to a person who is maybe 50% short of making their ends meet is also going to spending both the assistance they get and the actual job money they get in our main street retail stores.

Better to total in subsidized customers than to depend only on customers that do not need assistance, right? A starved out dead person is not a paying customer!

There are problems in this country, Trump's people may think "Make America Great Again", means taking us back to the pre-Civil Rights 1950s, but even those people realize that we were more equal regarding income levels in the 1970s, when Civil Rights allowed all people to put in their best effort at achieving the American Dream, plus the top tax rate of 70% made sure that corporate leaders did not waste corporate financial security by paying out corporate moneys as executive wages and executive bonuses.

One thing is for sure, a worker who knows his pay is fair just plain does better work.

SE Wisc. Citizen305 days ago

If you want to win

I would really hate to see Trump win buy another electoral landslide because the Democrats cannibalized each other. Leaving the weakest and most vulnerable to Trumps reality TV tactics. There is a good chance the Democrats can win but with the right people. My fear is the Dems will put their vote where their heart is and only get 40% of the Electoral College.

DJL305 days ago

Another 1996

Bernie and Biden are the Democrats version of Bob Dole. 80 year old white guys who's turn it is to run. Hillary too. Over-aged sea hag. McCain and that ditzy woman from Alaska. Got to get the Kennedy -esque that can sell the progressive story. I just don't see any other than maybe Mayor Pete. I'm a Republican so if we are going to lose and want to make sure its to someone I like.

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